“I had to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident, and Maggie was tangled in the tether,” said Wolko, who is the founder and CEO of the Center for Pet Safety. Maggie is a 30-pound English Cocker Spaniel. “She launched off the back seat into the front seat, and she was injured.”

That crash—Maggie made a full recovery after sustaining a strained spine and hips—got Wolko thinking. If Maggie had such a rough time in the car during a relatively minor crash, imagine what other dogs might endure in a serious collision. The worst part? Companies who make automotive pet restraints aren’t legally required to test their products before putting them to market.

“It’s so intuitive for us to just reach over and strap a seat belt on, but people don’t think about using these products for their pets,” Wolko says. “It’s incredibly important.”

So in 2011 she conducted a pilot study of four seat belts that seemed to be the highest quality offered on the market. Not even one passed basic safety criteria.

“We had a 100-percent failure rate,” Wolko said. “The dogs were flying off the seats.”

That’s where Subaru came in. Executives there say two-thirds of its drivers own dogs (AAA reports that nearly 90% of U.S. pet owners say they travel with their pets)--so canine safety is particularly important to the brand. And after seeing Wolko talk about the crash test failures on morning talk shows, the automaker commissioned a full CPS report that tested belts for small, medium and large dogs in simulated crashes.

It worked as much to raise awareness about pet safety in cars as to call out faulty harnesses.

“The thing people don't think about is that [having a dog in the car] is like carrying an 80 pound sack of spuds behind your seat,” said Michael McHale, director of communications at Subaru of America. AAA says that a 10-pound unrestrained dog in a car traveling 30 miles an hour will exert 300 pounds of force during a crash.

The safety harness results reported last month weren’t great. Four of the seven brands tested had “catastrophic failure” during a crash, which CPS defines as allowing the dog to become a projectile or release from the restraint. Only Sleepypod’s Clickit Utility Harness consistently kept dogs from launching off the seat; it was the only restraint deemed to offer substantial protection to all passengers including the dog.

The other belts? They ripped, tore, stretched and broke in crucial areas, releasing the fake test pooches as missiles thrown across the vehicle. Some broke “legs” and “ribs.” Others were decapitated.

Behind the Numbers

To compile the report, CPS recreated the same crash tests used to rate child safety products. Subaru and CPS enlisted MGA Research Corporation, an independent lab often contracted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to study commonly available pet safety harnesses.

Testing included fake dogs built around steel frames--a 25-pound “terrier mix,” a 45-pound “border collie,” and a 75-pound “golden retriever.” The models were weighted and packed to give a realistic representation of a dog’s body. Each device was also fitted with internal computer instrumentation to measure harness performance and collect baseline data.

The ultimate goal of each harness is to maintain the dog’s stability and restrain movement under duress. Each should also help stabilize the dog’s spine and limit rotation during an accident in much the same way seat belts for humans work.

“It’s so intuitive for us to just reach over and strap a seat belt on, but people don’t think about using these products for their pets,” Wolko says. “It’s incredibly important.”

Important--with plenty of room for improvement. Subaru will soon offer Sleepypod's Clickit Utility Harness as an optional accessory in its vehicles.